Sporting purple-tinged spring foliage and vibrant, citrus-scented summer blooms, Scarlet Tangerine Sage brings a shot of color and a sweet fragrance to the dry, sunny border garden. The tubular blossoms are hummingbird magnets; both foliage and flowers are edible and excellent in teas and potpourri.

Salvia elegans is hardy to Zone 8, and while we are officially Zone 8a, I’ve lost several Zone 8 plants in the last few years. Given that, I opted to site the two specimens in a sheltered spot in our front sidewalk garden. One has bloomed beautifully in its first year, and the other is trying to catch up after a mole created a void around its root base, which led to a delay in growth (before I noticed and compacted earth around the root ball).

The brilliant red flowers are a bit of a palette-breaker for this garden, but I’m going to wait to make perhaps make a garden until I see it bloom next summer – if it, in fact, survives the winter!